Amy Jo Kim
Shufflebrain
Collaboration & Collective Action the next wave of social gaming

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What do Kickstarter, Minecraft, CodeForAmerica, and Foldit have in common? They're leading examples of games and services that enrich people's lives through collaboration & collective action. People are opting-out of spammy social games and software because they're tired of being manipulated and distracted by programs that shorten their attention span and lowers the quality of their real-life relationships. Meanwhile, the audience for games is changing dramatically - it's an all-ages, cross-gender market now.

The next big wave in social gaming will be driven by making games that are universally appealing AND especially attractive to females - and that doesn't mean pink. It means making non-zero-sum games and services - experiences where you WIN via collaboration, collection action and teamwork. We'll look at hit games that incorporate these mechanics, and draw lessons for designing non-zero-sum game mechanics into your project.

With an eclectic background in neuroscience, computer science, and psychology, Amy Jo Kim is both game designer and web community architect. She has contributed to numerous games and services including Rock Band, The Sims, Ultima Online, family.com, there.com, nytimes.com, and happify.com. Sbe pioneered the idea that game mechanics make Web design more engaging, sticky, and viral by encouraging certain behaviors - and is well known for her 2000 book, Community Building on the Web, a design handbook for networked communities that is required reading in game design studios and university classes worldwide. Kim holds a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Washington and teaches Game Design at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.